The Second Sunday in Advent.
Psalm
120
Ad Dominum
WHEN I was in trouble I called upon the Lord : and he heard me.
2. Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips : and from a deceitful
tongue.
3. What reward shall be given or done unto thee, thou false tongue :
even mighty and sharp arrows, with hot burning coals.
4. Woe is me, that I am constrained to dwell with Mesech : and to have
my habitation among the tents of Kedar.
5. My soul hath long dwelt among them : that are enemies unto peace.
6. I labour for peace, but when I speak unto them thereof : they make
them ready to battle.
The Collect.
BLESSED Lord, who hast caused all holy
Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear
them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort
of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of
everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
[The Collect from the First Sunday in Advent is
to be repeated every day, with the other Collects in Advent, until
Christmas-Eve.]
Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 55.1-13
Psalter: Morning-80, 82; Evening-25,
26
Epistle Reading: Romans 15.4-13
Gospel Reading: Luke 21.25-33
Toon: “The Collect in The Book of Common Prayer (1662) was
written by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. It reflects the concern of the English
Reformers that the Scriptures assume their proper authority and place, not only
for doctrine and in worship, but also in daily living.
It is most fitting that at the beginning of the Christian
Year the gift from God of the Holy Scriptures is celebrated by the Household of
God. We, who are Christians, live in the light of the First Coming in humility
of the Lord Jesus even as we look for his Second Coming in glory (see the
Collect for Advent 1 for the Two Comings). All the time in this interim period
of grace we are to be taught by his sacred Word, the Holy Scriptures.
This Collect is addressed to the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who is called "Blessed Lord." We are familiar with such
expressions as "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel" (Luke 1:68) and
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Ephesians
1:3). The general idea is that God, the Creator, is blessed (praised and
adored) by all his creation and/or by his covenant people - the Latin would be
benedictus. Then there is the further idea (see 1 Timothy 1:11 & 6:15) of
God being "blessed" in the sense that his character and attributes
are glorious and full of eternal beauty - the Latin would be beatus. Here it is
benedictus (Benedicte Domine). Thus the Father is the Blessed Lord who is the
King of kings, the Lord of lords, and praised and adored by all creation and
especially by the redeemed thereof.
Having identified and addressed the One to whom we desire to
offer prayer, we then engage in a moment of meditatory prayer, or recollection,
as we remember a most significant fact in the relation of grace between God the
Holy Trinity and man. He has caused all Holy Scriptures - the Canon with Two
Testaments - to be written (and gathered and translated) for our benefit,
salvation, sanctification, instruction and education. And he has given this
amazing gift to his people to be used under his perpetual care as a permanent
possession for our good and his glory.
Being in the presence of the Lord Jesus and suitably
recollected by the help of his Spirit, we are in a position to offer our basic
and extensive petition. And this begins with a strong verb, "Grant."
This verb carries the sense of being wholly and totally in need of the mercy of
the One to whom supplication is offered. In other words, we who make this
petition do really and truly need his favour and help in order to benefit from
the supremely wonderful gift that he has placed in the hands of holy mother
Church, even the Holy Scriptures.
The verbs used - hear, read, mark, learn & inwardly
digest - are so arranged as to suggest perhaps the movement from initial,
superficial acquaintance with the content of the Bible to the profoundest
reception of that content deep in the soul, in the heart, mind and will, and in
the fear of God. To hear is to hear both with the outer ear and with the inner
ear and thus hear in the mind and the conscience, where the seed of the word of
God must be sown. To read (which was not possible for all in the 16th century)
is yet another route for the word to enter the soul. To mark is to pay close
attention to what is heard and/or read, to meditate upon it, to chew the cud as
it were. To learn is to commit to memory the essentials of what is heard and
read. "Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against
thee" (Psalm 119:11). To digest the word of God can only occur when there
has been the receiving, the noting, the meditating and the remembering, for, in
digestion, the spiritual food (be it the milk or the solid food) enters the
"blood stream" of the soul. "How sweet are thy words unto my
taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (Psalm 119:103).
The result of the right reception of the Word of God is that
(a) by patience; and (b) by the comfort of God's Word, we embrace and hold fast
the blessed hope of everlasting life ("blessed" here is beatus,
pointing to the unique majestic glory of the Second Coming, which is the
Christian hope). The patience is the patient waiting for the Second Coming of
Christ to bring to an end this evil age and to inaugurate the age of the
kingdom of God. And the "blessed hope" is also the glorious
Appearing, the Second Coming of the Saviour. Thus a basic theme of the Collect
is the right use of Scripture as a means of preparing for the Second Advent as
we live in the Light of the first Advent. In other words, though it is a very
appropriate prayer for the beginning of Advent and of the Church Year, it is
also a prayer that is suitable every day and week!
And it ends with the full recognition that it is only
through, by, in and with Christ Jesus that we go to the Father for succour and
the Father comes to us with gifts and blessings” (http://www.pbs.org.uk/bcp/commentary_detail.php?CommentaryID=4).
Primus Pilus II
Mike
